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Soybeans and eucalyptus are next high-end car seat
Wednesday, May 15th, 2019
at , Wheels

For high-end automakers like Land Rover and Audi, sustainable and animal-free textiles, not leather, are the brave new world of interior car design

by HANNAH ELLIOTT

CARBON fibre used to be the ultimate tell when it came to showing just how much money you could throw at your car’s interior. An expansive dash, custom-carved door panels, a US$1,000 (RM4,160) steering wheel in that unmistakable black cross-hatch — and the Nappa leather seats that often pair with it — telegraphed to anyone who cared to look that this was an expensive, sporty and unique whip owned by someone who was possibly important, and at least interesting.

But now it’s time for plants.

The 2020 Range Rover Velar showcases land Rover’s line of animal-free textiles

“Fifty years ago, a leather couch was the height of luxury,” says Massimo Frascella, Jaguar Land Rover Automotive’s creative director and a practicing vegan. “Now, in the best hotels and homes, you’d never see that. It’s a similar process with cars. Going forward, sustainable design is providing the framework for change.”

Frascella arrived in Manhattan during the New York International Auto Show, which began on April 19, to unveil Land Rover’s new line of leather-free and fully vegan materials developed to outfit its 2020 Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Velar and Jaguar I-Pace SUVs.

“There are a growing number of people who are concerned with the provenance of the textiles and materials in their vehicle,” he says. The new interiors are meant to attract those consumers for whom the highest form of luxury aligns with their eco beliefs.

The marque’s proprietary Eucalyptus Melange, for example — a textile produced from eucalyptus fibres — uses significantly less water than traditional materials such as plastic and Alcantara, and can be dyed to match any colour of the spectrum. It also uses a durable wool blend, from textile company Kvadrat, that feels like a soft wool sweater. Dinamica Suedecloth is a flameproof and extremely durable, suede-mimicking microfibre made from recycled plastic bottles — 53 per vehicle, on average, according to Land Rover. Taken together, they provide a vegetarian, if not fully animal-product-free, option for the conscientious affluent.

The Range Rover Evoque is a key piece of the brand’s strategy to introduce sustainable materials like microsuede at a high-end level

Other carmakers are also adding eco-conscious options to interiors. Volvo has said at least 25% of the plasticlike surfaces in its vehicles will come from sustainable materials, as opposed to oil, by 2025. Toyota Motor Corp makes seat cushion material that uses glycol from renewable sugar cane rather than glycol derived

from petroleum. Hyundai Motor Co sources ground-up volcanic rock to form the support pillar coverings for its sedans; Ford Motor Co developed a seat foam from soybeans; and Faraday Future has toyed with using rock fibres and cotton from discarded garments to line its cars.

Luxury brands have intensified the allure. In the heady world of US$250,000 SUVs and six-figure hybrids, it’s only fitting that the interiors are both plush and sustainable. In this arena, the medium is the message.

“This is part of a bigger global trend that we see continuing to grow,” says Filip Brabec, Audi AG VP for product management.

“It has to do with consumers understanding more and more the implications of how we inhabit the environment, and how and what we eat.”

Synthetic leather alone will make up a US$45 billion industry by 2025, according to business consulting firm Grand View Research, with automotive applications predicted to be the second-largest use for renewable textiles, after home furnishings. In this landscape, “responsibly sourced” and “premium alternatives” are the biggest buzzwords.

Audi has developed sustainable and even carbon-neutral materials for its electric vehicles. The seats of the Q4 e-tron SUV are made from recycled plastic, and the e-tron GT offers an interior option of synthetic leather and recycled microfibres, including a deep-pile Econyl yarn floor carpet made from used fishing nets. The entire car is vegan.

a wool blend like this helps reduce the amount of water used in the manufacturing process

In its Aicon concept, Audi presented seat covers made from Climatex, a dual-layered fabric with a polyester top and pure wool bottom. It was developed in a way so the two layers could be separated by type and recycled at the end of the vehicle’s life. Although it isn’t going into production, these sorts of solutions indicate the way Audi foresees the future of interiors.

“We have had some nice firsts,” Brabec says. “We see this as a big opportunity for us, and we are busy developing even more.” That’s not to say there isn’t still plenty of business to be had in the old-fashioned world of burled walnut and buckskin. Just ask the folks at Bentley.

But Land Rover is anticipating a larger change in consumer tastes. It’s introducing eco-conscious textiles in the Evoque, a model that, though not the company’s biggest seller (that would be the long-popular Range Rover Sport), takes the lead in marketing Land Rover as an upscale, aspirational addition to the garage.

Last year, it sold 9,917 of them in the US; when the Evoque was introduced, 85% of customers who bought one were new to the brand altogether.